Each church has a higher spiritual rank. One of the ancient religious dignities is the Catholicos. Translated from Greek, "Catholicos" means "universal" or "conciliar" and is interpreted as the highest spiritual title of some religious denominations. What is the Catholicos and what is its role in the modern religious world?
History of occurrence
The appearance of the concept can be attributed to 310 AD, when for the first time this title was accepted by Bishop Ctesiphon (the ancient city located on the site of present Baghdad) bar Gaggai. The clergyman was the head of the "Church of the East", which professed a Kaphalic ecclesiogy. A century later, at the First Ecumenical Council, the ideology of the clergy was approved, as well as the very concept of “Catholicos”, as the highest rank and head of all bishops of the Church of the East.
Until 1795, the Catholicos was the rank of head of the Abkhaz Catholicosate, and for the Church of Caucasian Albania, this concept lasted until 1836.
Now the title of Catholicos is the Armenian Apostolic and Georgian Orthodox Church.
Georgian Orthodox Church
For Georgia, the concept of "Catholicos" lasted until 1811, until the time when the Georgian Orthodox Church became the denomination of the Russian Orthodox clergy.
Georgia returned to autocephaly in 1917 and again began to single out the head of the church, the Catholicos. Today, the rank of Catholicos-Patriarch of Georgia belongs to Elijah II, whose itronization took place on December 25, 1977. The priest is the 80th in the history of the Georgian Church.
Armenian church
If for Georgia the “Catholicos” and “the patriarch” are synonyms, then in the Armenian Church, the Catholicos is a title that stands alongside the ranks of a priest, bishop, and others. His Holiness the Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of all Armenians of the Apostles is the first hierarch in the Apostolic Church of Armenia. The election takes place in two stages from among all the declared bishops of the Armenian Apostolic Church.
By secret ballot, five applicants are selected first, and then one of the five selected. The new First Hierarch receives
this title for life. Since 1999, this post has been occupied by Garegin II.
It is noteworthy that the Armenian clergyman has signs and symbols of the Holiness. Such are the seal, coat of arms, coverlet, which depicts the Lamb, the throne, wands, club, a cross with diamonds on the hood and others. Garegin II's residence is located in Etchmiadzin, it is the 132nd receiver of Gregory the Illuminator. Armenians who profess Catholicism also have their own Catholicos. Its official residence is located in Beirut.